THE EDITORIAL CHALLENGES OF ELECTION COVERAGE IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF THE NIGERIAN UNION OF JOURNALISTS, UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEMS AND ITS SETTING
Communication is so vital in our human life that no nation has been known to exist without it. It is the exchange of ideas, views, information, experiences and the sharing of meanings between persons, nations, societies and cultures (Dominick, 2002). This necessitates the continuous study in the area of communication and how it affects different societies and people. The report of election coverage is one of the modes of communication.
Elections are the centerpiece of democracy. Through voting, people can air their opinions; express their hopes and aspirations, discipline their leaders, and ultimately control their nation’s destiny. According to democratic theory, elections are the public’s source of power, but in order to use its muscle effectively it has to know where candidates and parties stand on public policy issues. Besides the people themselves, media have major responsibilities in this regard. The media has a vital role in informing the public about what the politicians are promising, in telling the politicians are promising, in telling the politicians what ordinary people want, or do not want, and in ensuring that the polls are “free and fair”. This is particularly important in countries lacking a solid background of democratic rule (Lange and Ward, 2004).
Elections correspond to periods of heightened media coverage and reporting. With each political party wanting to lead the country, these transitional times are often fashioned with competitive language, rising tensions, and occasional political violence, sometimes even resulting in violent conflict. The media is the primary mechanism for these dynamics. Therefore, the role of journalist is particularly crucial during then election process. In an often delicate content, and with a mind to conflict prevention, journalists must depend on their professional skills (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000). They must commit to delivering thorough, verified, and unbiased information, pulled from a number of diverse sources, to the public. At the same time, they must refrain from reporting information that encourage divisions or antagonistic discussions, which are likely to incite violence or endanger social structure.
News reporting through the radio demands that the reporter uses all of his or her abilities in the gathering of the news facts and story backgrounds, organizing same in a coherent fashion and then telling the listeners these stories in a clear and logical manner that they would understand. The aim of the broadcast station is to tell its ardent listeners what us happening in a manner that is as complete as possible.
The importance of the mass media is emphasized by Skormand and Scgroeder (1992) when they wrote that the electronic media is the most powerful form of public communication, as well as the prime site of the social negotiation of ideas values and lifestyles. Time restrictions may not permit reportorial completeness in answering the 5Ws and H, but radio stations aim at getting the rest available version of the facts at the moment of courage. During the recently concluded 2015 general elections in Nigeria, most media corporations stationed in Uyo were able to get live reports from its correspondents. The report to the world what is happening in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and in the other parts of the country because of the news gathering technology it has greatly invested in.
Elections are a terrifying period for journalists the world over, since they generate heightened political pressure, an increase in the number of manipulation attempts, and the need to work, hastily. If newsrooms also face materials and financial difficulties and a shortage of competent staff at a time when citizens expect the media to be ubiquitous, journalists’ work can soon become incomplete or unbalanced. The media sector’s political environment as well as its structure plays a key role in the manner the media cover the elections. Where the media environment is unstable, covering elections according to the principles of equal access and non discrimination can become very problematic (Adedeji, 2005).
The obstacles faced by the media during electoral processes are also to be found in countries with a long democratic tradition. The Nigerian media as a viable instrument of integration, peace and stability has been playing a tremendous role in shaping the political process of the country. This research seeks to examine the role and activities of the media in election coverage; the functions and challenges of journalists in the coverage of election in Akwa Ibom State. One must underline the logistical challenge posed by the media in reporting election coverage. When logistical challenges combine with political manipulations. It can be difficult to determine which dysfunctions are tied to technical problems, fraud or informal mechanisms retrenching freedom (Agba 2007).
This study therefore is an effort attempted to chart a similar course for the Nigerian society. Ti seeks to capture the challenges of media coverage of election in Akwa Ibom State. To achieve this it tends to adopt an analytical methodology to unravel the issues relating to Editorial coverage of election in the News Agency of Nigeria, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The issue of election coverage or reportage has generated serious debates in global media discourse. This could probably be because most of the journalists covering elections normally lacked the qualification together with the low awareness about the electoral law. In striving to achieve this, journalists, aside from confronting the frightening task of election coverage and reportage, have had to contend with certain challenges that are thrown up by the prevailing socio-political and socioeconomic circumstances in the societies they operate in.
Moreso, it is perceived that most media corporations are poorly resourced and could ill afford to station correspondents in all the Areas where there was election-related activity at one time. The diversity of modes of communication makes this complicated. Influence of media ownership and lack of press freedom has been described to create the fear of uncertainty in the profession of most of the election reporters; and in most cases tempered by intimidation, threat, assassination, Persecution, incarceration, and physically attacked. Many more had been reported to be censored, bribed or sacked to ensure that damaging or critical stories weren’t broadcast and that governments and major political movements were able to control the content of the press. It is therefore the need if this study to unravel if any the challenges of election coverage reporting in media houses in Uyo Capital City, Akwa Ibom State.
This work is aimed ay highlighting the reportorial challenges of election coverage in News Agency of Nigeria, Uyo. On the basis of the above research problems, the study has the following specific research objectives:
- To determine the professionalism of reporters on election coverage in Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Uyo
- To ascertain if the reportorial content on election coverage of NUJ is bias.
- To find out if the lack of press freedom has any influence on the report of election coverage in NUJ.
- To examine if reporters in the Nigeria Union of Journalists experience any challenge in election coverage.
- To highlight current opportunities that can help the reporters in NUJ to try to overcome the challenges in election coverage.
- JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Mainly, this study is considered significant because it may bring to fore the immense roles of reporters in the Nigeria Union of Journalists on election coverage. The ultimate goal is to better understand the practice of media relations from reporters’ viewpoints, and to promote not only an updated, but also a deeper understanding of how the challenges of election coverage developed and can be curbed. The findings may be relevant for greater press freedom and freedom of information policy on election coverage in the media and would also be as a mediating factor and would go as much as proffering solution to the approving journalistic practices and towards checking the worsening of the environment for reporting freely and for the benefit of the people.
The study would be useful and provide meaningful information to intending researches, scholars, potential and prospective users, students, consumers of goods and services, policy makers, politicians, political scientists, and every other person that needs it because, it would serve as a reference material to all. Finally, it is also hope that the study would significantly add to existing body of knowledge, particularly, on the challenges of election coverage reporting and provide a base for further research.
The study was completely focused on the Nigeria Union of Journalists Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. More so, the research was not conducted on behalf of the agency. As the study is conducted in only one news agency, the findings and suggestions of this study may be not be representative of the universe. Respondents may not have given their exact views to make the study healthier, it would have been extended to other parts of Akwa Ibom State and covered alomosty all news agencies in Akwa Ibom State but this is not done as a result of financial and time constraints.
- OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Challenges: This is a difficult task to test reporter’s ability, skill, or an impediment to exercise such skills in coverage of election in Nigeria Union of Journalists.
Coverage: This could refer to the reporting of news and issues such as election over the radio by a journalist as the case may be.
Election: This is the process of choosing a person or a group of persons for a position by voting.
Election Coverage: Election coverage has to do with the attention given to electoral events, issues, by NUJ in their news reportage. It is a form of informational or advertorial strategy or programming employed by the media outfit to report the activities of political parties, politicians as well as set agenda for electoral activities, especially in democratic settings for the greater food of the society.
